Μιλάς ισπανικά ή ελληνικά με τη φίλη σου;

Do you speak Spanish or Greek with your (female) friend?

Breakdown of Μιλάς ισπανικά ή ελληνικά με τη φίλη σου;

• ή: or
• μιλάω: to speak
• ελληνικά: in Greek
• η φίλη: the female friend
• σου: your
• με: with
• ισπανικά: in Spanish

Questions & Answers about Μιλάς ισπανικά ή ελληνικά με τη φίλη σου;

Where is the word “you” in this sentence? Why isn’t it written?

In Greek, you usually don’t need to write the subject pronoun, because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.

• The verb μιλάς is 2nd person singular: “you (singular) speak / are speaking”.
• The pronoun εσύ (“you”) is optional and is only used for emphasis or contrast.

So:

• Μιλάς ισπανικά; = Do you speak Spanish?
• Εσύ μιλάς ισπανικά; = Do *you (as opposed to someone else) speak Spanish?*

What exactly does μιλάς mean? Is it “do you speak” or “are you speaking”?

Μιλάς can mean both:

• Do you speak…? (ability, general)
• Are you speaking…? (right now / in this situation)

Greek has one present tense (the ενεστώτας) that covers both English simple present and present continuous, so:

• Μιλάς ισπανικά;
  can be understood as:
  • Do you speak Spanish? (in general), or
  • Are you speaking Spanish? (in this context),

depending on the situation and context.

Why are ισπανικά and ελληνικά in that form? Why not ισπανική or ελληνική?

Words for languages in Greek are usually adjectives used as neuter plural nouns:

• ισπανικά = literally Spanish (things) → “Spanish (language)”
• ελληνικά = literally Greek (things) → “Greek (language)”

The “real” full form would be something like:

• η ισπανική γλώσσα = the Spanish language
• η ελληνική γλώσσα = the Greek language

But in everyday speech, you almost always just say:

• μιλάω ισπανικά / ελληνικά
  (literally “I speak Spanish-things / Greek-things”).

So the neuter plural form (-ά) is the normal way to refer to languages in this kind of sentence.

Why is there no article (like “the”) before ισπανικά or ελληνικά?

After verbs like μιλάω (“to speak”), Greek normally uses language names without an article:

• Μιλάς ισπανικά; = Do you speak Spanish? (not “the Spanish”)
• Μιλάω ελληνικά. = I speak Greek.

Using the article here (τα ισπανικά, τα ελληνικά) can sound:

• grammatical but less natural in this context, or
• like you are talking about “the Spanish [words] / the Greek [words]” in a particular text, exam, etc.

For “speak a language” in general, drop the article.

What does ή mean, and how is it different from και?

• ή (with an accent) means “or”.
• και means “and”.

So:

• ισπανικά ή ελληνικά = Spanish or Greek
• ισπανικά και ελληνικά = Spanish and Greek

Pronunciation:

• ή is just [i], like the “ee” in “see”.
• και is pronounced roughly like “keh” or “ke” in modern Greek, not like English kai.

Why is it με here? Could I use σε for “with your friend”?

In this sentence, με means “with”:

• με τη φίλη σου = with your (female) friend

Σε is a different preposition; it usually means “to, at, in” depending on context:

• Μιλάω σε φίλους. = I speak to friends.
• Είμαι σε ένα σπίτι. = I am in/at a house.

So for “with someone”, you want με (often μαζί με = “together with”):

• Μιλάς με τη φίλη σου; = Are you speaking with your friend?
• Μιλάς μαζί με τη φίλη σου; = Same meaning, a bit more explicit: “together with”.

Why is it τη φίλη σου and not την φίλη σου? What’s going on with τη?

Τη is the feminine singular accusative definite article (“the”) before a consonant:

• Nominative: η φίλη = the (female) friend (subject)
• Accusative: τη φίλη = the (female) friend (object)

In modern spelling, την is usually used before vowels or certain consonant clusters, and τη before most other consonants:

• την αδελφή μου (before vowel)
• τη φίλη μου (before consonant “φ”)

So τη φίλη σου is:

• τη → the (feminine, object)
• φίλη → friend (female)
• σου → your

Literally: “with the friend your” → with your friend.

Why is it φίλη and not φίλος? Does φίλη always mean “girlfriend”?

Greek distinguishes the gender of the friend:

• ο φίλος = male friend
• η φίλη = female friend

So η φίλη σου literally means “your female friend”.

In context, η φίλη μου/σου/του… can mean:

• just a female friend, or
• girlfriend (romantic), depending on intonation and context.

If you want to be very clear about a romantic girlfriend, people often say:

• η κοπέλα μου = my girlfriend (literally “my girl / young woman”)

But φίλη on its own does not automatically mean “girlfriend” – it’s simply “female friend”.

Why is σου (your) after the noun and not before it, like in English?

In Greek, the unstressed possessive pronouns (μου, σου, του, της, μας, σας, τους) normally come after the noun:

• η φίλη σου = your friend
• το σπίτι μου = my house
• ο αδελφός μας = our brother

So:

• με τη φίλη σου = with your friend

This is the standard word order; putting σου before the noun is not how possession is normally expressed in Greek.

How do we know this is a question? What is that ; at the end?

Greek forms yes/no questions mostly by intonation and punctuation, not by changing the word order.

The Greek question mark looks like the English semicolon (;).

So:

• Μιλάς ισπανικά ή ελληνικά με τη φίλη σου;
  The ; here is the question mark, so this is a question: “Do you speak Spanish or Greek with your friend?”

If you used a period instead (.), it would look like a statement:

• Μιλάς ισπανικά ή ελληνικά με τη φίλη σου.
  (You speak Spanish or Greek with your friend.) – different meaning.